(o+) You Can't Please Everybody: Reactions to the pre-PPDF Meeting

Almost everyone (minor party GVP and CAMV party representatives excepted) seemed content with the agenda agreed upon by political leaders at Friday's Political Parties Leaders' Forum meeting. Former PM Laisenia Qarase spoke highly of the meeting. Former Opposition Leader Mike Beddoes was reported as saying the Forum went well and that everyone was presented an equal opportunity to express their views freely on all matters listed on the agenda. He added that the outcome of the Forum was significant considering how things had turned out in the past six months. Even the press was enthusiastic. "Political Leaders Find Some Common Ground" (Fiji Times); "Beddoes Happy with Forum Outcome" (Fiji Sun); "SDL Hails Political Party Meeting" (Fiji Live).

But not so the Fiji Daily Post. Its Saturday super-large front page banner headline read "No Change, No Polls". The paper went on to write about "an ultimatum issued to political leaders " ... by the Interim PM who was reported to have told the meeting that there would be no elections "if the participants failed to agree on a new electoral system." This may well be so but no reference to this statement was mentioned by any other paper; no participant mentioned it; it was not even given the status of a direct quotation by the Post; and since no journalist attended the meeting, one is left wondering what the Interim PM actually "told the meeting."And why spoil an otherwise happy day! [See "Bainimarama Urges Unity", below.]

Someone else not at the meeting, Professor Brij Lal, must have been phoned by the Fiji Sun for his comments on the agenda. The Sun (15 March) reports him as saying "This [the absence of direct reference to the military] is a glaring omission because unless the role of the military is publicly discussed, there can be no assurance of democratic rule in Fiji." I agree with him but the Constitution, that Bainimarama and many others want to see amended, was also not specifically mentioned. Those attending the meeting would ensure both topics will be discussed under item one of the agenda: The democratic experience in Fiji. [I'm wrong. It will be discussed under People's Charter.]

Prof. Lal warned a "set agenda would not be welcomed by the UN and Commonwealth, who had been requested to facilitate the PPDF. [They] will not sully their reputations by getting involved in a sullied process. The Commonwealth communiqué is clear: it wants the dialogue process to be open, transparent and unprejudiced about the final outcome. They will not come in to endorse a pre-arranged agenda," he said.

On this, I do not agree. Most agenda items are usually decided before meetings. Why should they not agree to a pre-arranged agenda? How can an agenda agreed to by all parties be "a sullied process"? The task of the UN/Commonwealth is to facilitate, not set the agenda. That is the sole responsibility of Fiji. I think Prof. Lal, presuming the worst, responded too quickly to a newspaper enquiry seeking a negative response. He could have waited until the dust had settled and a clearer, less ambiguous, view of what the agenda entailed had emerged.

Not to be outdone in "anticipatory negativity", Fiji Women's Crisis Centre Co-ordinator Shamima Ali, welcomed the decision to include 15 NGO and civil society groups in the PPDF, but then added "inclusion should not be conditional on who supports the coup and who doesn't." Fiji Times 15 March. [Of course. Why anticipate the worst?]

Bainimarama Urges Unity

Fiji Daily Post 13 March. Text in full.

Interim Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama is urging all political leaders to put their negativity aside and support the People’s Charter. Speaking at the Political Party Leaders Forum at the Parliamentary Complex in Nasese, Bainimarama called on leaders to unite and move forward. “Pointing fingers at one another and continuing to engage in the blame game is neither helpful nor constructive,” he said.“More than ever, now we must recognise that the only way to move forward is to tackle years of systematic problems by reforming. “To face our global economic challenges we must make paradigm shifts, be positive and resilient and promote equal citizenry, we must be one nation,” he added.

Bainimarama told the leaders at the forum that they must unite as one.“We must be creative and innovative to mitigate our risks and we must become self sufficient. “We can ill afford to view the situation through narrow religious, ethnic, political, personal vantage points or as advocates of foreign interests,” he said.